As everyone before me said, it's never safe to bot, which is something I understand. 

 

Is using a merchant bot just as risky as using say, a woodcutting or fishing bot? World one is very crowded and is not short of bots that seem to be there 24/hrs a day. 

It's risky indeed 40% chance to get banned.

Depends on what you bot. You can get banned for botting in month change as Jagex will usually look for you through a whole month and then ban you.

I feel really unsafe right now. I've been doing 2-3 quests a day and also farm runs every now and then. One night i was stuck repeatedly saying something for about 8 hours...

 

I bot on my main (and only acc), no goldfarming.